Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton

I really loved this book, it’s more of a coffee table book than a sit down for an afternoon and read the book kind of thing.

It almost works like Post Secret, there’s a blurb of either entertaining, emotional, or a weird quote that grabs your attention really fast. The only difference is there are pictures of the people who said it, and some of them are really poignant, some were sad, while others made me smile.

I really, really recommend this book to anyone with the vaguest interest in “people” and their every day lives. It might be kind of weird, but every once in a while I’ll pass someone on the street and wonder what they’re thinking about and who they are – so this book had a ton of appeal to me. Small windows into peoples lives that give you pause and make you reflect a little.

The way the stories were juxtaposed was also really well done. On one page you’d read a few paragraphs about a pastor who’s losing his faith, turn a page and it’s someone who’s survived a crisis citing their faith getting them through. On one page you’ll have a young kid expressing his dreams and on another an elderly person expressing regrets. It was just a rollercoaster of emotions and I never knew what the next page would make me think or feel.

The amount of diversity they packed into the book was amazing, well dressed well to do people along with the homeless, people who were born here and those who just arrived – it was fascinating. They even got a few famous people, Bryan Cranston’s quote is “She still gets giddy when she sees a firefly” standing next to his wife.

I spent a few hours just flipping through the pages, reading a short expert from someone I’ll never meet and just thought about their reflections and musings.